Is Cassidy the Answer to the Bruin’s Woes?

The Boston Bruins fired nine year, Stanley Cup winning coach Claude Julien only a few hours before the Patriots Super Bowl victory parade through Boston. This promoted a lot of anger from fans and also a lot of confusion.

When the front office management under Don Sweeney and Cam Neely fired Julien, the Bruins were 26-23-6. It was clear that the Bruins needed a change to help the team get over the struggles they were facing. Bruins fans all across Boston went into a panic wondering what would happen.

Well Julien went back to the Bruins longtime rival the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (this came after the Bruins beat the Canadiens four to nothing at the Garden). Now Julien is coaching the team leading the Atlantic division and Bruce Cassidy was named interim head coach of the Bruins.

Let’s start off with the good here. The Bruins haven’t lost a game since Cassidy took the reigns as the coach. Granted it’s only been three games, but these wins have come against very good teams such as the Canadiens, Sharks and Canucks. Now the Bruins are enjoying a bye week before they head out on a road trip out west.

The Bruins are playing better on both sides of the puck. The offense has really been coming together creating good opportunities for goals while the defense has been making it easier on Tuukka Rask as well. They have been getting more aggressive on defense and making sure their opponents don’t spend too much time in the Bruins zone.

Now we get to the bad. While everyone is hyped on how well they are doing, let’s be realistic; It’s only a matter of time until they lose some games. Now I’m not saying they are going to go back to being a mediocre team, but I certainly don’t think they will lead the league.

They are going on a four game road trip starting Sunday where they face the Sharks, and then they go against the Ducks and the following night the Kings and end the road trip with the Stars. This road trip will be a major test for the Bruins to see if they can keep up this level of play going forward.
Overall Bruins fans should be pleased for the moment. That doesn’t mean they should be looking forward to being in the Stanley Cup finals, but things are looking bright. The Bruins sit in third place in the division as they are only two games behind the Canadiens for first place and are right there for second place just below the Senators. The Bruins are now 29-23-6, hoping to improve on that and move up in the standings.